On July 8th, 1945, in the closing weeks of WW II, the Netherlands submarine O19 runs aground on Ladd reef in the South China Sea. Its crew of 55 sailors is vulnerable to enemy warships and planes patrolling the region. US admirals order the American submarine U.S.S. Cod to aid O19. After two days of unsuccessful attempts to free the Dutch sub from the reef, Cod brings aboard 55 Dutch sailors and destroys O19 so it does not fall into enemy hands. In a gesture of naval gallantry Cod’s captain flies the O19 flag alongside the US flag during the three day trip to safety. The Ladd Reef rescue remains the only international submarine-to-submarine rescue in history.
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Seventy years later to the day, under clear blue skies in Cleveland, submarine Cod, now a memorial docked in Cleveland’s harbor, welcomed more than 300 guests to a celebration of the anniversary of that unique rescue. Following remarks by dignitaries and presentations of proclamations, the crowd was invited aboard the 312-foot sub to witness a reenactment of the rescue and gallant flag gesture of Cod’s wartime commander. |
| As the guests watched, a WWII-vintage Navy Avenger torpedo bomber circled overhead while Cod’s two inflatable boats paddled across the harbor carrying Commander Royal Netherlands Navy Submarines Captain Hugo Ammerlaan, portraying the wartime O19 skipper (LCDR Drijfhout van Hooff ), along with three Cod reenactors. |  |
| Once on Cod’s deck, Ammerlaan was greeted by the son of Cod’s wartime skipper, Edwin Westbrook Jr., who like his father 70 years earlier, asked for the O19’s flag and ordered it be attached to Cod’s jackstaff. | ||
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As the Dutch flag unfurled alongside the Stars and Stripes, the national anthems of the Netherlands and America were played, followed by an ear-splitting three-shot salute from Cod’s five-inch deck gun. A cake and punch reception sponsored by local Dutch cultural groups followed.
Program participants included: Royal Netherlands Consul General Klaas van der Tempel, Deputy Consul General Stephan van de Wall, Honorary Consul for Cleveland, Peter de la Porte, Commander Royal Netherlands Navy Submarines, Captain Hugo Ammerlaan, Netherlands Naval and Military Attache´, Colonel Carlo van den Berg, US Navy Commander Eric Stein, Cleveland Media Relations Director, Dan Williams, representing Mayor Frank Jackson, Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, and AkzoNobel Marine Coatings Director David Heflin.
Click to view Akzo Nobel Marine Coatings press release of this event.
Also, please view their Human Cities Initiative featuring the USS COD!
